Christmas tree recycling: Charity Christmas tree initiative raises more than £18,000 for West Sussex hospices

More than 1,200 residents across West Sussex and in Brighton and Hove signed up for the scheme, which was run through the UK charity Just Helping.

Businesses also took part by making voluntary donations to have their trees collected and in total 1,280 Christmas trees were taken to recycling plants in the area as a result of the partnership.

Warnes Projects in Ford was one of the firms that signed up to support St Barnabas House hospice.

Steve Hobbs, managing director, said: “We have been supporting St Barnabas for four years now and we are always looking for dynamic ways to help the charity.

“We knew we had to get involved with the Christmas tree recycling project earlier in 2021, we reached out to local garden centres and the local council to help get the initiative started.

“We also offered our yard as the collection hub. We are thrilled that the project was so successful and were happy to help with raising funds for this exceptional charity.”

In total, 450 people in the BN16 and BN17 postcode areas, including Angmering, East Preston, Littlehampton and Rustington, signed up, raising £6,000 for St Barnabas House.

In Bognor, volunteers collected and recycled around 170 Christmas trees, raising more than £2,300, and across Brighton and Hove, more than 700 trees were collected and recycled, raising just over £10,000 for Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice.

Charlotte Waring, community fundraising manager for the hospices, said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who got involved with the initiative this year and helped to make it a great success. We rely heavily on the generosity and support of the community and we’re so grateful to everyone who pulled together and helped raise over £18,000 from donations through the Christmas tree recycling initiative.